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WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:07 pm

WARNING: If you purchased a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista 64-bit and have received your free Windows 7 Upgrade disc, DO NOT FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE DISC if you wish to do an Upgrade (retain your files, settings, and programs). If you follow the Upgrade instructions on the disc, your Windows 7 Upgrade will FAIL and you will have to roll back to the FACTORY SETTINGS, losing all your files, settings, and programs. Then you will have to start over and to do a clean install of Windows 7.

In other words, doing what Toshiba tells you to do to upgrade will cause you to have to reformat your computer.

This is because the upgrade instructions were causing users' upgrades to fail, resulting in blue screens. Once this started happening, Toshiba realized that they had left out a step: the customer needs to update the BIOS prior to upgrading. This step was then added to the instructions on the website but the customers were not notified. Only if the user happened to go to the website to see the instructions instead of following the instructions on the disc would they have known this.

EVERY Toshiba customer who tries to upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit by following Toshiba's instructions on the disc will have to RETURN TO FACTORY SETTINGS.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby Grav!ty » Sat Jan 02, 2010 11:50 pm

Interesting. I wonder if a BIOS update is necessary for a clean install too?

Upgrading an OS always seems to be such an obvious choice to avoid having to backup documents and other stuff one wants to keep and to avoid having to reinstall all ones software. In practice, not all the application data settings or registry settings are seamlessly transferred to the new OS in my opinion. A clean install is always preferable in my opinion.

In the case of Vista to Windows 7 upgrading, there are registry entries in Windows 7 which behave very differently to the exact same registry entry in Vista, and the consequences of changing them in Windows 7 can lead to a system becoming unbootable or unusable, as I discovered with a simple thing like removing the shortcut arrow on desktop icons.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:30 am

EDIT: See my following post. It turns out that my model is NOT even included on their list of models that need the BIOS update at their site. So I wouldn't have done it anyway.

=============================

That's exactly why the Toshiba Upgrade Assistant utility is used to do the upgrade. It is supposed to take all that into account and allow a seamless process.

The overwhelming majority of purchasers of the Toshiba laptop with Vista pre-installed wouldn't generally know how to do a clean install or desire to do so. Most simply want to upgrade. Research showed that many wouldn't even have bought the laptops in the first place if they knew they'd have to wipe it all and start over. So the upgrade program was essential to selling the laptops.

Except for geeks like us who know that a clean install is generally the way to go, and we are a small minority, the general public simply wants to upgrade and not have to reinstall all their files, settings, and programs.

The only problem was that they left out the added step of updating the BIOS. Apparently since they began including that in the instructions the upgrades have worked as they're supposed to. However, that requires the user to go to the website to see the procedure rather than follow the procedure on the disc itself.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 12:41 am

Here are the clean install instructions UPDATED at the website:
http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais ... id=2455564

If you will be upgrading to the 64-bit version of Windows 7, you may need to first update your BIOS. Click here to see if your laptop requires a BIOS update prior to installing 64-bit Windows 7.

That step was not on the disc. Clicking "here" takes you to a list of models which MAY require an update. My model is NOT on that list. Then it says:

Issue: A Windows blue screen error condition ("BSOD") may occur during or immediately after installing 64-bit Windows 7.

Resolution: A small set of laptop models require a BIOS update to be compatible with 64-bit versions of Windows 7. The model list and download links are available below. Please note that not all models in the below listed model families will require the BIOS upgrade, but only those with Part Numbers matching the detail below. The Part Number can be found on a sticker on the bottom of Toshiba laptops.


Here are the instructions for an Upgrade:

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/tais ... id=2455726

This is the step they added only at the website:
If you will be upgrading to the 64-bit version of Windows 7, you may need to first update your BIOS. Click here to see if your laptop requires a BIOS update prior to installing 64-bit Windows 7.

That step was not on the disc. Clicking "here" takes you to a list of models which MAY require an update.

And guess what? My model number is not on that list either. So even if I HAD gone to the site to double-check and see if any changes had been made I STILL would not have been instructed to update the BIOS.

Perhaps that's why it took 6 phone calls to 4 agents, one supervisor, and one "Level 2" supervisor over the course of several hours and 2 days to finally determine what was wrong, because my model number wasn't even on their list of models that needed this.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 2:52 am

So I just wiped my laptop entirely and rolled back to factory settings. I then called Toshiba back and told them where I was at, and that they were to instruct me on what to do next.

Guess what? The agent said "there is no need for you to update the BIOS." This, after a supervisor there (a top level one) had told me I had NO CHOICE but to reset the laptop to factory condition because I had NOT updated the BIOS.

Then he told me he would get a supervisor. I waited on hold for about 15 minutes, then was disconnected.

This has turned into the single worst customer service experience of my life.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:19 am

I called back and waited on hold for 55 minutes and gave up.

I have called back and am waiting again.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 3:51 am

Waiting on hold another 30 minutes now. WTH am I supposed to do when nobody answers?
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby Grav!ty » Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:31 am

Do you not have a Windows 7 DVD that you can use to avoid the upgrade? Will the one you got from Toshiba not allow you to do that if you boot from it and select Custom instead of Upgrade?
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 5:44 am

I do but what happens if, when I'm into W7, I still have a problem? Then they'll say they're not responsible because I went ahead without them.

I also want some kind of compensation from them for what they put me through. They just can't get away with sending people files that erase 6 months of hard work.

All I wanted to do was upgrade to W7 and their instructions to me completely wiped my hard drive.
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Re: WARNING to TOSHIBA Windows 7 Upgrade Customers

Postby phileysmiley » Sun Jan 03, 2010 6:20 pm

Anyway, screw Toshiba. I no longer have the patience for them. I'm doing a clean install, following their instructions so if there's a problem I can still say I followed their instructions. We shall see what happens.

If it doesn't work they will find my laptop on their doorstep.
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